Boutique Hotels Update 2017

The number of hotels in Bangkok continues to grow at a steady rate. In 2016 Trip Advisor listed just over 800 hotels. Now it has early 870 hotels that it follows. It is the same trend seen in the B&B category and the speciality lodging category. A few of the new accommodation options in Bangkok claim to be ’boutique’ but we are going to stick with our original selection of boutique places to stay in Bangkok. We believe they still represent the unique, stylish and exclusive hotel experience that encapsulates the boutique experience.

Below is a list of the hotels we list and notes concerning their review ratings on Agoda and Trip Advisor. Since Agoda ratings tend to be fairly static we have used the Trip Advisor rating to determine whether a hotel has improved or not.

The Winners

Baan Noppawong stayed at 8.3 on Agoda and rose from 21 to 14 in the B&B category.

Baiyoke Sky Hotel is in Bangkok’s tallest building. The famous hotel and sky bar moves up 69 places in the hotels category from 365 to 296. The Agoda score stays at 7.6

Davis Hotel maintains its solid 8 score on Agoda and moves up 20 places on Trip Advisor from 260 to 245 in the hotels section of the site.

The Eugenia Hotel is unusual. It is not listed on Agoda but is listed on Booking.com. The two booking engines are owned by the same company so the reason for the move is not apparent. On Trip Advisor The Eugenia has gone from not available to 442.

Triple Two Silom is a modern hotel in the heart of the commercial district of Bangkok. It has improved its Trip Advisor ranking in the hotels category, going from 76th to 55th.

Another winner is The Four Seasons. It has jumped from the 35th best hotel to the 28th best hotel in Bangkok according to Trip Advisor.

Hotel Muse Bangkok is clearly a very well-run establishment – it has gone from 124 to 36 in the hotels section of Trip Advisor. The only disappointment is that the new management has felt the need to inflict their branding on the hotel name. It is now called ‘Hotel Muse Bangkok Langsuan – MGallery Collection’. Trips off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Loy La Long Hotel is a delightful micro hotel by the river. It continues to charm as it moves from 22 o 16 in the B&B section of Trip Advisor.

The Losers

Baan Pranond in contrast to Baan Noppawong has slipped slightly down the ratings. It has gone from 17 to 23 in the B&B section of Trip Advisor. However, the Agoda rating has increased from 8.6 to 8.7.

Chakrabongse Villas retains its impressive Agoda score of 9 but falls in the speciality lodges category from 35 to 105. That is a big fall that management will no doubt be keen to address over the following 12 months.

It is hard to think of the impressive Peninsula Hotel as a ‘loser’ but it dropped from the 6th best hotel in Bangkok to the 7th. It still retains the second highest Agoda score of all the boutique hotels in Bangkok – 9.1.

The Praya Palazzo Hotel fell over a hundred places in Trip Advisor’s hotel section going from 115 to 265.

Shanghai Mansion, one of the leading hotels in Chinatown, has fallen from 79 to 85 in the hotels section of Trip Advisor.

The Hansar Bangkok has had a horrible year. It has kept it high Agoda score of 8.9 but has dropped from the 2nd best hotel in Bangkok to the 40th according to Trip Advisor reviewers!

The Luxx has, sadly, performed poorly too. Complaints of looking old and worn and its plumbing needing attention has seen it drop from 409 to 576 for hotels in Bangkok.

Whereas Maduzi improved its Agoda rating from 8.8 to 8.9 it dropped 40 odd places in the hotels section of Trip Advisor to 99.

Others

The Navalai River Resort changed category rather than going up or down. It could be termed a sideways move. The Agoda score stayed at 8.2. The Navalai is now the 37th best speciality lodging in Bangkok.

It is impossible for anyone who stays at The Mandarin Oriental to feel they are staying in anything but a world class 5 star establishment. It dropped from first to second best hotel in Bangkok. However, its Agoda score just keeps getting better – going from 9.2 to 9.4.

For some reason The Metropolitan Bangkok (now COMO Metropolitan) has no Trip Advisor score, but did improve its Agoda score to 8.6 from last year’s 8.5

Conclusion

The boutique hotels in Bangkok continue to draw myriad reviews from lots of customers. These select hotels inspire comment. The jury is divided – just as many hotels we recommend improved as did fall in the ratings. Next year the tables will turn again. It is a cutting edge that determines success in this niche of the accommodation market in Bangkok; fashion ,expectation and hot spots change bringing some places into the light, while casting others in the shade. This is perhaps the main reason why traveller reviews can be so valuable.